Willis was 'best of the available options' for MIA
Dan Le Batard and the Shipping Container explain why there shouldn't be any super strong opinions on what Malik Willis could be for the Dolphins, but it does make the team 'very interesting' to keep track of.
Video Transcript
Over the years, Zaz, the audience has, heard my increasing exasperation with how strong and instant takes have gotten, okay?
And I really don't know how you can have a very strong opinion on Malik Willis, but I am seeing a great deal of very strong opinion on both sides on the Dolphins getting Malik Willis.
It's hope.
that's part of it.
It's also encouraging that they actually have a plan.
Yesterday, 24 hours ago on this show when I was saying I thought that Malik Willis was where it is that this was headed after they waived Tua, you had mentioned that, people were talking about Arizona as his favorite- Yeah destination.
They have the better skill players.
Tua ends up in Atlanta now, they have the better skill players.
But the opinions on Malik Willis range from, Chase Daniels saying, quote, "Malik Willis is worth it all for the Dolphins."
He was on his tip.
The film is so much better than you think.
Is what?
Timing, timing, touch and anticipation.
Mina Kimes says he's got a cannon, incredible dual threat quarterback.
Incredible is very strong.
But here's Dominique Foxworth on the other side of this.
This isn't the best option out there, but of the available options it seems like he's gonna have a legitimate, like, chance to prove himself.
Like, the problem is this team feels to be obviously in a rebuild, and they're hampered by, like, the, the big dead money on the Tua contract.
And his He's gonna be limited.
Like, this team is gonna be limited.
The expectations are gonna be a little low for this team, and the support that he enjoyed in, in Green Bay when he had those few successful games over the past couple years, like, that's not gonna be there.
We're not sure that, that Bobby Slowik is a good offensive coordinator.
We haven't seen Waddle carry this offense alone.
HN we know is an explosive big play, running back.
The offensive line has issues, the defense has issues, and like we started with the offensive coordinator.
You have a first time head coach, the offensive coordinator is unproven.
I, the more I examine this situation, it might be the best that you're going to get if you only have a small sample size like Malik Willis.
Zaz, what is your opinion here?
I think they went from super boring and definitely going to be terrible next year to very interesting.
Like, the Dolphin fan now every single week has something to watch, hoping, hoping that this guy is going to be their franchise quarterback and that they found a gem at a very good price.
I mean, the Dolphin fan has never Like, Tannehill was able to run a little bit, but not like this.
Like, the Dolphin fan has never witnessed a dual threat quarterback.
They've never had the guy who can run and make the fun, explosive plays.
You had Snoop Huntley for a little bit.
Okay.
What are you doing there?
Fiedler.
But the other- Fiedler was sneaky.
Pat White would like a word.
But the other, the other side of it for me is, man, like, I, I thought this front office was gonna be a little bit patient with this rebuild.
This is not patient at all.
Oh- This is very impatient no, no, I don't, I don't think this is impatient, because they're in handcuffs, right?
You can say it's a good contract, 'cause it's essentially two years, $45 million.
You can get out from under it if it's a mistake.
But you're paying for the quarterback position next year about $90 million, because you've got so much dead cap money in Tua.
And because of that dead cap money, you have to align it so that if this is a mistake, two years from now you're okay.
That's a good point.
So you have to get someone cheap because you're paying a lot.
You're not You're paying a quarterback more than the Chiefs are paying Mahomes, by a good amount, because you've got two quarterbacks that you're paying a lot next year.
And in a salary cap sport, while he represents only, like, sev- Malik Willis represents only, like, 7% of your salary cap, which is where you'd love to have a great quarterback at value, the amount you're paying Tua makes it so that this front office is in handcuffs.
And this is the best of the available options.
I would have preferred Kyler Murray, but a guy coming into a system with people that he knows is something that does create that hope you're talking about.
a couple of, things that I wanna point out, though.
He couldn't beat out Will Levis in his first two years at Tennessee.
He only had 92 dropbacks in Tennessee and was terrible in Tennessee.
Couldn't beat out Levis.
Now, people are excited about Green Bay, but that's a conservative offense, okay?
That's a run-heavy offense.
And they had a good offensive line in Green Bay, so he was very good down the field.
In terms of explosive plays, people have run the analytics and say if you take the sample from him in Green Bay and put it out over the entirety of a season, it's the best quarterback in the league because of how he throws the ball downfield.
Throws the ball downfield accurately.
But I just don't know how you can have very strong opinions for a first time starter in year five who's taken all of 302 snaps in five years.
Loads of bad tape at Tennessee.
And I was a huge Malik Willis guy when he was at Liberty.
Touchdown connection with C.J.
Daniels.
Like, he was awesome at Liberty, and I thought he was gonna be one of the best pro prospects.
And he went into the league, got opportunities with a bad Tennessee team, admittedly, and he straight up could not throw the ball.
They did not trust him to throw the ball.
Forget downfield, they didn't trust him to throw the ball four yards.
And he was available for Green Bay on the cheap for a reason.
And it took him a while at, in Green Bay.
I think they, I think they traded a seventh for him, right?
Yeah.
It took him a minute in Green Bay, and he started 'Cause Jordan Love's been in and out a little bit.
But last year was really encouraging, and a testament to that being a development position, him learning the NFL a little bit.
And those numbers downfield are really impressive.
I In terms of hope-And the Dolphin fan perspective, you're really excited that they had a plan, they executed it quickly.
You thought that this year would be a wasted year.
No, you actually got one of the top two quarterbacks available.
You, you have hope in the front office because they executed a plan and made Miami somehow desirable for a top two quarterback, and you have a, a, a big variable in Malik Willis that could go either way.
Like, the ceiling's really high with him.
Are the Dolphins falling into a trap that Miami Heat does to other teams where they're like, "We're gonna develop this guy who's gonna be really good for us, but then when you get to your team over there and you pay him a ton of money, he's not gonna be that good," right?
Like, are we worried that Green Bay's development system, and obviously they don't do free agents, they don't do trades.
Like, they draft and they develop.
Like, that's their MO, and it's like, is that happening with Malik Willis where you're gonna get here, he has none of the skill players around him?
You're like, "Oh, who is this guy?"
I, I really like the point you made about, Dan, about the timeline with essentially it's a two-year contract.
It matches up with the two years that the Dolphins are gonna- It's really limiting the position that this management team is in as janitorial workers trying to clean up this particular thing.
But it lines up with the two years that they're at a major cap deficit because of Tua, and then you can kind of either Then, then you have multiple options.
Like, right now the only option would've been, "Hey, hopefully next year we get a good draft pick."
Now you'll have two options.
Either you like Malik Willis or you'll decide to eventually go into the draft.
I, there's not a lot of precedent for a quarterback who, for four years, has been a backup, extremely small.
It's not like he got six, eight games.
Re- recent, recent, recent precedent, because this used to be how quarterbacks looked all the time at the beginning.
It'd be the most normal thing in the world for a quarterback to have to wait five years- Four years, that's a lot to learn the position.
But the way that he looked in Tennessee is how my experience with young quarterbacks before the last- Mm-hmm seven years has always been.
and I also think something that's interesting here is, and another bad position that this management team inherits, the single greatest advantage that you can have in that sport, since Russell Wilson was winning the championship in Seattle, is you get a good quarterback cheap so that you could build the rest of your team.
This is the opposite of that.
Not because of Malik Willis, but because of their quarterback situation, they've got a ton of dead money tied in not being able to know whether they still have a quarterback or not.
That's usually something that will shackle the entirety of your franchise.
You kinda need him to be great, and there's nothing to suggest that he's got the help needed on offense to be great
